After experiencing a lull, local medical schools again become a
top choice for many high school graduates, leading to entrance
score requirements rising quickly. Medical schools are again
attracting many of the best students.

Low income, heavy workloads and poor relationships between
doctors and patients have meant many excellent high school students
have opted out of learning medicine in previous years, but the
situation has started to change recently.

“More young people who have a strong desire to learn medicine
apply for medical schools, and most of them have very good mental
abilities to face the current problems,” said Shao Li from Shanghai
Jiaotong University School of Medicine, which had a semester
opening ceremony yesterday. “Our entrance score is over 60 points
from the lowest college entrance score in Shanghai this year. It
set a record, after being at 50-plus points recently.”

Jia Wenqing, a freshman of Jiaotong’s medical school, said she
was determined to become a doctor after being hospitalized for
severe pneumonia for one month two years ago.

“After witnessing doctors and nurses’ hard and professional
working, I decided to return to the hospital in the future as a
doctor,” she said. “I also want to be their colleagues and save
more people’s lives.”

Zhang Kunqi took part in the national college entrance
examination eight years ago and majored in information safety
afterwards. After working in game development and even planning to
start his own business, he decided to learn medicine last year and
became a freshman at Jiaotong’s medical school this semester.

“I had a deep think about my life and discussed it with my
parents. Then I decided to learn medicine and choose being a doctor
as my life career,” he said.